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Members of the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) organization in the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University traveled last month to Chumanzana, Guatemala, a community of extreme poverty, to help build and create a successful thread supply store. Called Threads of Hope, the project is intended to create sustainable incomes for Chumanzana women, who supplement the community’s primary industry of agriculture with weaving. Ninety percent of the people in Chumanzana are illiterate, and many Chumanzana children do not attend school; Threads of Hope is therefore seen as a vital aid in economic development. The new local store will cut time and travel expenses for the women weavers. It used to take half a day to travel to Guatemala City to purchase the thread needed for their weaving products. Now, with Threads of Hope, the women have their supplies right in their own community. To further ensure the success of the store, the SIFE team worked with the local women to develop sound business strategies, educating them about retail principles and store ownership, and empowering them to run the local store independently. The SIFE members continue to work with the women remotely on a weekly basis to assist with the store’s progress.